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Dance, (Un)interrupted

“Mapping Out A Sky,” “38109,” “Each In His Own Time,” “Meet Ella”
BalletX, Lil Buck, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Caleb Teicher & Company
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 22, 2021

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2021 by Marianne Adams

The Fall For Dance Festival never really left, considering the two programs it offered in a digital streaming format last year, but still its return to a live audience felt like a homecoming.  A bonus on the second night of Program 4 was the unscheduled appearance by Caleb Teicher and his dancers, rounding out the programming to the traditional four work count that each festival night usually offers. (This year the billing was tweaked to only include three works, and no intermissions.)

Photo of Adrian Danchig-Waring and Joseph Gordon in “Each In His Own Time." Photo © Stephanie Berger.  

Storytelling

“El Pintor,” “Pá Triana Voy,” “Sentio,” “Caminos,” “A Solas,” “A Mi Manera”
Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana
BAM Fisher
New York, NY
May 17, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

In a short run at the BAM Fisher theater, Carlota Santana’s spirited company presented impressive flamenco technique, a cherished relationship with the dance form and generous storytelling through dance. The intimate setting of a small stage allowed for a closer connection to the dancers and their expression, and the performance amounted to a memorable night of richness of soul and substance. 

Photo of Isaac Tovar, Antonio Hidalgo, Angel Muñoz in “Caminos.” Photo © by Christopher Duggan.

Hard Work, and a Wedding

“Don Quixote”
American Ballet Theatre
The Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
May 16, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams
 
For her debut in the role with American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland presented the crowd with a robust but not particularly enthusiastic Kitri, and fellow debutants Jeffrey Cirio as Basilio, Luciana Paris as Mercedes and Calvin Royal III as Espada enlivened the production with joyful and appealing dancing. The ballet wasn’t perfect, but the shining moments shone brightly, even if that light did not come from where one expected it.

 

Photo of Misty Copeland and Jeffrey Cirio in Act 1 of "Don Quixote." Photo © by Rosalie O'Connor

 

Stand and Dance

“Chiaroscuro,” “Slice to Sharp,” “Stabat Mater,” “The Decalogue”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
May 12, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams
 
The main event of the evening was the world premiere of Justin Peck’s fourteenth ballet for NYCB called “The Decalogue,” but as the audience waited for the fresh and new, the company dusted off and presented three ballets of the somewhat old.  All dating back to 2006 and into the 1990s, the works that led up to the big reveal of the night were Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s 1994 ballet “Chiaroscuro,” Jerma Elo’s 2006 “Slice to Sharp,” and Peter Martins’ 1998 “Stabat Mater.” All fared well at showing where the company’s recent choreography stood, even if they looked distinctly of a different era when compared to what Peck had in store for the audience to culminate the night.

 

Photo of Rebecca Krohn and Jared Angle in Justin Peck's "The Decalogue." Photo © by Paul Kolnik

 

Cheers To That

“Mercurial Manoeuvres,” “Polyphonia,” “Liturgy,” “American Rhapsody”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
April 25, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams
 
A program of works by just one choreo- grapher can do wonders at revealing that creator’s weaknesses and strengths.  With no one else’s craft for the works to be compared to, hide behind or shine over, the creator is presented to the audience as all they are, and for his part, Christopher Wheeldon really let his talent glow throughout the evening.

Photo of Unity Phelan and Amar Ramasar in "American Rhapsody." Photo © by Paul Kolnik

Dance Is a Latina

“Línea Recta,” “Con Brazos Abiertos,” “3.Catorce Dieciséis”
Ballet Hispánico
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
April 20, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

The sole woman in a red dress stood in the middle of the stage with her back to the audience. She flicked her wrists, resonating the motion in her elbows and then all through her arms, curved her spine and twisted her body, with these spiraling movements echoing the flamenco beats of the music. Her body bended to the side, with fingers moving as though on a Spanish guitar, she grabbed the long trail of her red ruffled dress and faced the viewers with a piercing gaze that was both daring and inviting. That was how Ballet Hispánico’s program of three works by female Latina choreographers at the Joyce Theater began: with femininity, resolve and emboldened beauty. 

Photo of Ballet Hispánico in “Línea Recta.” Photo © by Paula Lobo

Different Decades, Same Problems?

“Romeo & Juliet”
The Joffrey Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
March 29, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

The marquee event of The Joffrey Ballet’s brief return to New York City after being gone for 22 years was its modernized “Romeo & Juliet,” which was fresh and interesting, but also imperfect. The premise of this 2008 ballet by Polish choreographer Krzysztof Pastor, with dramaturgy by Willem Bruls, was that throughout the epochs and time, some things, like cultural divisions and struggles of forbidden love, stay the same. To show that, the work kept the classic story intact, but the cultural background to the tale, which shifted around through the decades of 20^th Century Italy, raised enough questions to really detract from the otherwise compelling dancing.

Photo of The Joffrey Ballet's Christine Rocas & Rory Hohenstein in "Romeo & Juliet." Photo © by Cheryl Mann 

Wholeheartedly: The Complex Things

“Primitive Mysteries,” “Rust,” “Mosaic,” “Diversion of Angels”
Martha Graham Dance Company
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 17, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

The Martha Graham Dance Company’s latest New York season, intriguingly titled “Sacred / Profane,” offered a mix of two Graham works and two newer choreographies, including one world premiere by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, in its second program.  The works presented an interplay of ritual and innocence, problems of torture, a mosaic of human identity and spectrums of love, and their performance amounted to an evening of very earnest artistic presentation of these complex topics.

Photo of Martha Graham Dance Company in Martha Graham’s “Primitive Mysteries.” Photo © by Brigid Pierce.

Old and New, With Youthful Promise

“Birthday Offering,” “Kabalevsky Violin Concerto,” “Concerto Grosso,” “Chromatic Fantasy,” “Concerto,” “See The Youth Advance!,” “New Scarlett”
ABT Studio Company & The Royal Ballet School
NYU Skirball Center for the Performance Arts
New York, NY
February 10, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

It’s fascinat- ing to watch young dancers, those just on the cusp of professional careers, as they feel their way through and experiment with various works. There is their exploration of what the work ought to look like, of course, but also, since these dancers are not yet set in their ways, the many expressions of their brewing individualities. In a performance by young artists from ABT Studio Company and graduates of the Royal Ballet School, the mixed bill program presented at the NYU Skirball Center offered a full menu of such expressions, in works ranging from classics by Frederick Ashton and Kenneth MacMillan to more recent creations, and even a world premiere. The more recent works fared better than the classics, with the dancers from both schoolings delivering an absolutely marvelous performance of a new ballet by Liam Scarlett to close the night. 

Photo of Sierra Armstrong and Jarod Curley of the ABT Studio Company in "See the Youth Advance!"  Photo © by Rosalie O'Connor 

Keeping It Beautiful

“Sleeping Beauty”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 9, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

NYCB’s “Sleeping Beauty” remains a beautiful production, and the smartly chosen cast of veterans and debutants gave the season’s early performance a good balance of stability and risk. Not all went smoothly, but the high points of the evening, particularly Sara Mearns’s debut as Fairy Carabosse, struck a memorable chord.

Photo of Joaquin De Luz and Megan Fairchild. Photo © by Paul Kolnik

 

Anthemic and Glimmering

“Fearful Symmetries,” “The Shimmering Asphalt,” “The Times Are Racing”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
February 1, 2017

by Marianne Adams
copyright © 2017 by Marianne Adams

With its winter New Combinations program, NYCB certainly saved the best for last.  Starting with the tepid Peter Martins’ ballet “Fearful Symmetries,” and progressing to the different and intricate new work by Pontus Lindberg, “The Shimmering Asphalt,” the program culminated with the explosive new Justin Peck ballet that was fun, liberated and fundamentally inclusive.

Photo of the company in Justin Peck's "The Times Are Racing." Photo © by Paul Kolnik